In the days since Vladimir Putin sent Russian troops into the Crimea, it has been amateur hour back in Washington.

I don’t mean Barack Obama. He’s doing pretty much everything he can, with what are a very limited set of policy options at his disposal. No, I’m talking about the people who won’t stop weighing in on Obama’s lack of “action” in the Ukraine. Indeed, the sea of foreign policy punditry – already shark-infested – has reached new lows in fear-mongering, exaggerated doom-saying and a stunning inability to place global events in any rational historical context.

Let’s start here with Julia Ioffe of the New Republic, a popular former reporter in Moscow who now tells us that Putin has sent troops into Crimea “because he can. That’s it, that’s all you need to know”. It’s as if things like regional interests, spheres of influence, geopolitics, coercive diplomacy and the potential loss of a key ally in Kiev (as well as miscalculation) are alien concepts for Russian leaders.

Overstated Rhetoric Shorn of Political Context

David Kramer, president of Freedom House, hit the ball out of the park on this front when he hyperbolically declared that Obama’s response to Putin’s actions “will define his two terms in office” and “the future of U.S. standing in the world”.

Honorable mention goes to Ian Bremmer of Eurasia Group for calling this crisis “the most seismic geopolitical events since 9/11”. Putting aside the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the Arab Spring, Syria’s civil war and tensions in the South China Sea, Bremmer might have a point.

Missing from this “analysis” about how Obama should respond is why Obama should respond. After all, the US has few strategic interests in the former Soviet Union and little ability to affect Russian decision-making.

Our interests lie in a stable Europe, and that’s why the US and its European allies created a containment structure that will ensure Russia’s territorial ambitions will remain quite limited. (It’s called Nato.) Even if the Russian military wasn’t a hollow shell of the once formidable Red Army, it’s not about to mess with a Nato country.

The US concerns vis-à-vis Russia are the concerns that affect actual US interests. Concerns like nuclear non-proliferation, or containing the Syrian civil war, or stopping Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Those are all areas where Moscow has played an occasionally useful role.

So while Obama may utilize political capital to ratify the Start treaty with Russia, he’s not going to extend it so save the Crimea. The territorial integrity of Ukraine is not nothing, but it’s hardly in the top tier of US policy concerns.

What is America’s problem is ensuring that Russia pays a price for violating international law and the global norm against inter-state war. The formal suspension of a G8 summit in Sochi is a good first step. If Putin’s recalcitrance grows – and if he further escalates the crisis – then that pressure can be ratcheted up.

But this crisis is Putin’s Waterloo, not ours.

Which brings us to perhaps the most bizarre element of watching the Crimean situation unfold through a US-centric lens: the iron-clad certainty of the pundit class that Putin is winning and Obama is losing. The exact opposite is true.

Putin has initiated a conflict that will, quite obviously, result in greater diplomatic and political isolation as well as the potential for economic sanction. He’s compounded his loss of a key ally in Kiev by further enflaming Ukrainian nationalism, and his provocations could have a cascading effect in Europe by pushing countries that rely on Russia’s natural gas exports to look elsewhere for their energy needs. Putin is the leader of a country with a weak military, an under-performing economy and a host of social, environmental and health-related challenges. Seizing the Crimea will only make the problems facing Russia that much greater.

For Obama and the US, sure, there might be less Russian help on Syria going forward – not that there was much to begin with – and it could perhaps affect negotiations on Iran. But those issues are manageable. Meanwhile, Twitter and the opinion pages and the Sunday shows and too many blog posts that could be informative have been filled with an over-the-top notion: that failure to respond to Russia’s action will weaken America’s credibility with its key allies. To which I would ask: where are they gonna go? If anything, America’s key European allies are likely to fold the quickest, because, you know, gas. And why would any US ally in the Far East want Obama wasting his time on the Crimea anyway?

You don’t have to listen to the “do something” crowd. These are the same people who brought you the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, among other greatest hits. These are armchair “experts” convinced that every international problem is a vital interest of the US; that the maintenance of “credibility” and “strength” is essential, and that any demonstration of “weakness” is a slippery slope to global anarchy and American obsolescence; and that being wrong and/or needlessly alarmist never loses one a seat at the table.

The funny thing is, these are often the same people who bemoan the lack of public support for a more muscular American foreign policy. Gee, I wonder why.

1/26/98 - Project for a New American Century (PNAC)—founded by Cheney, Scooter Libby, Donald Rumsfeld, Jeb Bush, Paul Wolfowitz, and other top neocons—demands President Clinton undertake the “removal of Saddam Hussein’s regime."

Nov. 1999 - Chalabi-connected Iraqi defector “Curveball"—a convicted sex offender and low-level engineer who became the sole source for much of the case that Saddam had WMD, particularly mobile weapons labs—enters Munich seeking a German visa. German intel officers describe his information as highly suspect. US agents never debrief Curveball or perform background check. Nonetheless, Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and CIA will pass raw intel on to senior policymakers. [Date the public knew: 11/20/05]

“The United States of America is a threat to world peace. Because what [America] is saying is that if you are afraid of a veto in the Security Council, you can go outside and take action and violate the sovereignty of other countries. That is the message they are sending to the world. That must be condemned in the strongest terms.”

"Saddam is neither friend, nor brother to us, and he will never pay off debts to us. It’s the question of precedent: today the United States doesn't like Iraq, tomorrow Syria, then Iran, North Korea and then what: everyone else?"

Instead of quoting Mandela condemning the USA, why not, just once, just this once, on Ukrainian Invasion Day, condemn someone else for something, like, o, maybe, the Roossians who have just invaded another country and mean to gobble gobble gobble it up?

Vice President Joe Biden tried to pitch Obamacare to a Canadian tourist during a surprise stop at an Arizona restaurant on Friday.

The video by news station KTVK showed Mr. Biden touching the woman’s arm as he sits next to her on a bench outside the Scottsdale restaurant, Mediaite.com reported.

“Everybody young signs up for healthcare. It’s affordable, you can get subsidies to do it. It’s in your interest, and if you don’t even want to do it for yourself, do it for your parents, give them piece of mind,” he told her.

Robert Spencer Mar 3, 2014 at 11:57am Nigeria 5 CommentsNIGERIA-CAMEROON-FRANCE-KIDNAPAnother day, another jihad massacre in Nigeria. This follows the jihad murder of 39 people in Mainok on Saturday, and the mass murder in a Maiduguri market that same day. These ongoing jihad mass murder attacks show how truly monstrous is the entire “Islamophobia” mythmaking industry, and “Islamophobia” seminars such as the one last week at Georgetown University: cosseted academics sit in oaken meeting rooms in prestigious universities discussing supposed hatred of Islam, never bothering even to mention that every day, innocent people are being murdered because of Islam’s doctrine of jihad, and doing all they can to demonize and marginalize those who are calling attention to these atrocities and their root causes. The result will be inevitable: more jihad murders.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau put it succinctly: “The reason why I will kill you is you are infidels…we must establish Islam in this country.” But as the jihad body count rises, Daniel Varisco and John Esposito (and Reza Aslan and his gunsel Nathan Lean, and Nihad Awad and Ibrahim Hooper, and 1000 others) will just speak even more loudly about the need to silence all criticism of Islam and end all counter-terror initiatives. The blood, quite obviously, is on their hands.

“Nigeria bloodshed continues with 32 dead,” from the Associated Press, March 3 (thanks to Lookmann):

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — After a weekend of violence, officials say 32 people were killed in an attack on the northern Nigerian village of Mafa Sunday night, after soldiers fled the area, outgunned by suspected Islamist insurgents.

Thatched roofs were set ablaze as gunmen rolled into town shooting at about 8 p.m., witnesses say. All homes, shops and government buildings were destroyed. Senator Ahmed Zannah says two police officers were also killed in a bomb blast early Monday, as they attempted to rescue other victims.

The destruction comes after bombings and shootouts on Saturday evening in Borno State, Nigeria that killed nearly 100 people.

Zannah says a week before the attack most Mafa residents fled their homes after leaflets were dropped in the village, warning of imminent danger. He said seven soldiers in Borno are also believed to be missing.

The Neocons justified the Iraqi civilian casualties, claiming that more Iraqis were dying under Saddam. Ergo, The US occupation was there to rescue and protect the Iraqis. Sound familiar to the Russian claims? No? Nothing? Not even close?

The claims may sound the same but the realities are considerably different. Has Ukraine gassed its citizens as Saddam did the Kurds?

After Iraq War I we let Saddam keep his helicopter gunships and he immediately used them to mow down the Shia in the south. Has Ukraine invaded Moldovia? Like Saddam did Kuwait? Has Ukraine fought a long and bloody war with Poland as Saddam did with Iran? How many Ukrainians has the Ukrainian secret police killed? I have no idea but not in the same league as Saddam I'd wager.

As for the equivalency of USA going into Iraq and Russia going into Ukraine, we actually set up something of a democracy, now fading fast, but the Russians have not that intention.

The two situations are not nearly equivalent.

Iraq may have been a mistake, but recall, Saddam was violating all those UN Resolutions, no fly zones, etc etc.

The UN approved Iraq War I. Can't recall about Iraq War II but the Congress voted for it, a free Congress unlike the one in Russia, and the Brits were with us and some others too. We don't know who is going into Ukraine for sure, as the troops have no insignias (what IS the point of this?) and wear masks.

What we got going here is Russian pride, Russian history, Russian imperialism - now there's an imperialistic country - Russian traditional fear of western Europe and its ways, Russian thuggery.....

Peace, love, and hang the Pervs, good to know Iran has it's apologists here:

"Iran executed two gay men on Sunday for the crime of “perversion” and has sentenced a third individual to death for “insulting the prophet,” according to human rights activists tracking the situation.

The head of Iran’s judiciary department in the northern city of Rasht announced on Sunday that two homosexual men had been executed for “perversion,” which is considered a severe crime under Iran’s hardline Islamic law.

The executions come less than two months after Iranian authorities publicly hanged 40 individuals in a two-week period. Iran is executing at least two people a day, according to activists."

Our entire legal system is built upon precedent. Our foreign policy is conducted using precedent. Access through East Germany into Berlin throughout the entire Cold War is an example.The US Navy entering and maintaining established sea lanes is another. We have established some nasty, comeback to bite you on the ass, precedents since Bush-Clinton-Bush and their merry band of Neocons set all sorts of foreign policy precedents in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya and Panama.

We do not ascribe to the idea that the following is part of the franchise.

The French publisher Lattes has sent “warning letters” to publishers it feels are infringing on the copyright of Fifty Shades of Grey.

This erotica bestseller began as a work of Twilight fan fiction called Master of the Universe, earning a massive fan fiction following years before the book deal. Most traces of this fan fiction history have been removed from the Internet. Using the Wayback Machine, we were able to take snapshots from James’ old work–getting a peek into the book’s previous incarnation as an X-rated version of the Twilight story.

A couple posts up the rat was telling how great precedent was. A couple posts later he denounces it.

Go figure.

If nothing else the main precedent established at the Elephant Bar/Libertarian is that you post what you like when you like. Unlike what rat has done in the past, the Maui Haole at least had the decency to put his divergence from topic in a separate post.

Call me what you like, rat. Or call me nothing at all. Unlike you, it bothers me not at all.

Multiple personality disorder is a clinical problem and not being qualified to help you I simply refuse to enable or abet your pathology. The dissociative behavior you display here seems to point to an identity problem, interesting in its own right but not enough so for me to play along.

Rumors of Putin's supposed madness have become so prevalent in recent days that one can't help but recall the "madman theory" of former U.S. President Richard Nixon, whose administration tried to plant the suspicion that he was unbalanced in order to scare geopolitical opponents into concessions.

But Putin has been such a shrewd political player for more than a decade and a half, and many observers see cold calculation and deliberation, rather than madness, in his latest Ukraine gambit.

Cost-Benefit Calculus

Jan Techau, director of Carnegie Europe in Brussels, suggests that Putin is simply employing a cost-benefit calculus that is completely different from that used by Western politicians. Putin, he says, sees an existential threat to Russia in Ukraine's westward drift and therefore is willing to bear a very high political and economic cost to prevent it -- and has been preparing the ground to do so for a long time.

A U.S. diplomatic cable from the Kyiv mission in 2006 that was released by WikiLeaks accuses Russia of funding "a deliberate effort to destabilize Crimea, weaken Ukraine, and prevent Ukraine's movement west in institutions like NATO and the EU." It says that plan had been in operation at least since the Orange Revolution of 2004.

Ben Judah, the author of "Fragile Empire: How Russia Fell In And Out Of Love With Vladimir Putin," says "the crucial thing that Putin was trying to achieve in Ukraine over the past few weeks was to continue to impose a Russian veto over Ukraine's future."

"From the moment that Russia threatened a trade war to block [deposed Ukrainian President] Viktor Yanukovych signing an Association Agreement with the European Union to the decision to intervene in Crimea, it is all about this one thing -- it is that Ukraine can't fully have autonomous control over its own destiny," Judah says.

In addition to geopolitics, domestic considerations are also a strong motivator for Putin, analysts say.

Russian opposition figure Leonid Gozman said in Crimea, Putin is engaged in a "genuine attempt at an Anschluss," an apparent reference to Adolf Hitler's annexation of Austria to Nazi Germany in 1938.

But Gozman says the reason Putin is seeking outside "enemies" is to bolster his political legitimacy at home, which has declined among much of the population since vocal public opposition to him emerged in late 2011.

"What is Vladimir Putin's situation? He has serious problems with his legitimacy, which began -- or at least he recognized them -- when he was booed [at a martial arts event in Moscow's] Olympic [stadium] back before the last Duma elections," Gozman says.

"He's a smart person and he understands that his charisma is weakened. It happens -- they loved him and now they don't love him. So he needs some other foundation for his legitimacy. And another foundation for legitimacy is victory."

I'm beginning to suspect that Putin is "rethinking" the whole Ukrainian thing. A big fight in the Ukraine might be bad for the gas pipeline business, and Vladimir is all about the gas pipeline bizness.

I initially speculated that Russia was taking a big gamble in the Ukraine 'because' of gas. While they could cut off gas to the Ukraine and/or Europe in response to any actions taken against them, they would in turn take a serious blow to their economy because of the lost revenue. However, that speculation was on the basis that most of the pipelines went through Ukraine.

However, the following map shows they have more flexibility than I thought, at least in the short run.

CAIRO — Egyptian armed forces chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah el-Sissi has given the clearest signal yet that he will run for president, saying he cannot ignore the demands of the “majority”, Egypt's state news agency reported on Tuesday.

El-Sissi, who toppled Egypt's first freely elected president, Mohamed Morsi, said “official procedures” concerning his candidacy were expected in the coming days.

El-Sissi, widely expected to win the presidency of the Arab world's most populous country, was speaking at a graduation ceremony at the Cairo war college.

Most Egyptians regard him as a decisive figure who can end the political turmoil that has gripped Egypt since a popular uprising toppled autocratic president Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

In his speech, el-Sissi said Egypt was witnessing difficult times that required the unity of the people, army and police, according to the state news agency MENA

El-Sisi, Mubarak, even Morsi for that matter, a dick by any other name is still a dick. We see it more often than not. Were Erdogan to fall, Gulan an even more fundamentalist Islamist would likely replace him. In Ukraine, we see a bunch of corrupt oligarchs replaced (I suspect) by a bunch of right-wing nut jobs. In Israel, were Bibi to be voted out, it is likely he would be replaced by even more ultra-conservative right-wing nut jobs. And so it goes in much of the world.

SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine — The prime minister of Crimea, the autonomous Ukrainian republic seized by Russian military forces, said Tuesday that most Ukrainian military units on the peninsula had surrendered and pledged allegiance to his pro-Russian government, and that local officials were working to speed up a referendum on independence.

Speaking at a news conference on Tuesday morning, Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov said that regional officials were in control of the security situation, even as armed standoffs continued between Russian forces and Ukrainian troops at several military installations, including a base near the airport of Belbek near Sevastopol.

“There is no safety threat to human life in Crimea,” Mr. Aksyonov said.

And the Referendum for Crimean Independence from the Ukraine is still scheduled for the 30 March 2014.

I was watching various news programs yesterday (FOX, CNN, NBC) and the military analysts and 'experts' they brought on to discuss the Ukraine crisis. It was a waste of time.

While a good many of them (like some here) speculated that Obama's 'weak' or as John-John McCain put it 'feckless' foreign policy was a big reason Putin had troops enter the Crimea, none of them had any solutions to offer other than what Obama was doing or proposed doing right now. I see our resident neocons have little to offer either.

They had the recent ambassador to the Ukraine on one of the stations. He retired five days ago or five weeks ago, whichever. He recently retired. He now has taken a job as professor at an eastern university. He said that based on his last job (ambassador) he felt that the administration was doing all it could to influence Putin. However, speaking from his new job (professor), he wasn't optimistic it would work. Then they had a former general who was past head of NATO. He blustered and spouted and talked about how we had to get tough with Russia, gets some respect, show them we and out allies can't be pushed around. When the interviewer said, "So you are saying that all options should be on the table even the military", the guy sputtered "No. No. I'm not talking military."

So I put it to those who say we should get tough with Russia, what 'specifically' would you like to see us do? Of course, I mean other than what we are doing already.

Integrity of oil pipeline under Straights of Mackinaw raises concerns.

Stretched across the bottom of the waterway at depths reaching 270 feet are two 20-inch pipes that carry nearly 23 million gallons of crude oil daily. They are part of the 1,900-mile Lakehead network, which originates in North Dakota near the Canadian border. A segment known as Line 5 slices through northern Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula before ducking beneath the Straits of Mackinac and winding up in Sarnia, Ontario.

The pipes were laid in 1953. They’ve never leaked, according to the system’s owner, Enbridge Energy Partners LP, which says the lines are in good shape and pose no threat.

=====================

Enbridge has reached an agreement with Michigan Technological University to deploy a newly developed “autonomous underwater vehicle” to provide digital images of the pipeline eight times in the next two years.

The equipment probably isn’t capable of detecting cracks, but “never before have you been able to see this kind of detail,” said Guy Meadows, a director of the university’s Great Lakes Research Center.

The National Wildlife Federation maintains it’s time to replace the lines. The group posted a short video taken by divers that appears to show broken supports and sections suspended above the bottom or covered with debris. Critics also complain the company won’t release enough data from its inspections of the pipelines and note that above-ground sections of Line 5 have ruptured in numerous spots on land, spilling hundreds of thousands of gallons.

AshTue Mar 04, 08:07:00 AM ESTSo, bob, after all that blabber of yours above, what action should the USA do? Mobilize and invade?

Ash, just woke up. Strange sleep patterns.

I already said what I think we should do which is put the economic screws to Russia best we can. And we ought in the long run to figure out a way to import natural gas to EU to get them off the Russian tit.

Other than that, if they go into west Ukraine we might think about gun running and keep the situation simmering. We could put that missile defense system into Poland too.

While a good many people argue that American weakness under Obama is the reason Putin decided to invade the Ukraine, the following article by Peter Beinhart argues the opposite. He argues that after the fall of the USSR, a unified Germany was merely the first of numerous Soviet clients that were absorbed by the West, moving ever closer to Russia.

At a certain point, that NATO expansion would have to stop and it did, first in Georgia and now in the Ukraine.

Some truth to that but it does not suffice, except in Russian minds. The idea that NATO wants a war with Russia is ridiculous. We invited Russia INTO NATO at one time. Russia could join EU if they wanted to and played nice and obeyed the EU rules. They sit in NATO in some capacity as observers. Both France and Germany have learned their lessons about fucking with Russia. Besides, the game is all different now. Russia can wipe EU out in a few minutes, if needed.

A link would be nice. I am not aware that Russia was ever invited to join NATO. In fact, lack of Russian membership while actively pursuing Russian neighbors like Georgia and Ukraine provides a good reason for Russian mistrust.

There was once discussion of inviting Ukraine into NATO, but since that country is about to fragment into pieces, thanks to the US funded revolution in Kiev, the one we watched 'Live' on RT Television, which displaced the duly and legally elected government, well ... doubt if that offer is discussed seriously, soon.

You can call yourself anything you want. I started to play that game with T until it quickly became silly. I'll not start over again with you.

If you don't like me calling you rat, don't respond.

Means nothing to me.

QuirkTue Mar 04, 12:22:00 PM EST.

Call me what you like, rat. Or call me nothing at all. Unlike you, it bothers me not at all.

Multiple personality disorder is a clinical problem and not being qualified to help you I simply refuse to enable or abet your pathology. The dissociative behavior you display here seems to point to an identity problem, interesting in its own right but not enough so for me to play along.

In this case, one can actually sympathize with Vladimir Putin. When an oligarch spends this kind of money on a propaganda machine, shouldn’t it stay bought? Abby Martin didn’t get the memo, but her editors did (via Mashable):

Shortly before wrapping up her show on the international, multilingual Russia Today (RT) network, Abby Martin announced she, “wanted to say something from my heart about the ongoing political crisis in Ukraine and Russia’s military occupation of Crimea.”

“What Russia did is wrong,” she said. “I admittedly don’t know as much about Ukraine’s history or the cultural dynamics of the region, but what I do know is that military intervention is never the answer, and I will not sit here and apologize or defend military aggression.”

Working for the station funded by the Russian government and broadcast in around 100 countries, would not compromise her editorial independence, she added.

“I can’t stress enough how strongly I am against any state intervention in a sovereign nation’s affairs,” she said.Martin slammed the media coverage from everyone, but took particular aim at her own network:

Signing off she vowed to keep telling the truth as she saw it, and promised to return to the show that RT describes as cutting “through the pre-written narrative that tries to tell you what to think and what to care about” on Tuesday.France 24 slammed the “propaganda machine” and offered a fact-check of the most outrageous claims coming from Russian media – most of which either originated at RT or was parroted by the broadcaster:

Over the weekend, Russia’s propaganda machine appeared to have gone into overdrive. As Russian troops and military hardware rolled into the Crimean peninsula, the country’s media were busy whipping up support for an armed incursion. Russian television even announced it was cancelling coverage of Sunday night’s Oscars to concentrate on the crisis next-door. The situation has led Ukrainian media bosses to publish an open letter in which they urge their Russian counterparts to report with balance and objectivity. In parts of eastern Ukraine and Crimea, Russian is the only language spoken: that makes Russian-language media the only source of news.

On Sunday, state news broadcaster Russia Today published an article alleging that 675,000 people had fled Ukraine’s “revolutionary chaos” in the past two months into Russia. The source of the figure appears to be Russia’s border guard service. The same day, state network Channel One Russia [ORT] broadcast these images claiming to show Ukrainians pouring into Russia. But in the same report, a sign is visible at 0:14 with the name of the crossing – ‘Shegyni-Medyka’ – which is actually situated on Ukraine’s border with Poland. ORT’s willingness to read from the same script as President Putin could be explained by the man who currently sits on its board of directors: Alexey Gromov. Once President Putin’s press secretary, Gromov is now Putin’s deputy chief of staff.Russian media has been running footage of what they claim are attacks on Ukrainian government buildings by hooligans associated with the Euromaidan uprising in Kyiv. However, a closer look reveals a hint of staging:

A closer look at the video may help shine some light on the identity of the alleged assailants. The fighters appear to be armed with GM 94 grenade launchers and AK-100 machine guns: according to a weapons expert contacted by FRANCE 24, these sophisticated weapons are normally used by the Russian military. The yellow bus that the masked men use to make their getaway also seems out of place: that’s because this bus also belongs to the city’s local zoo, and can be seen on the zoo’s official website. Towards the end of the same footage captured live by French channel BFM TV, the armed men can be seen running back onto the same bus. At the one minute mark, the markings of a zoo animal can be seen on the vehicle door that closely resembles those found on the zoo bus shown here. Also visible on the front of the vehicle is ‘Тайган’, the name of the local zoo which translates to English as ‘Taigan’.Basically, RT and the Russian media have been a non-stop clown show save for Martin’s brief statement, as Buzzfeed and The Week have already pointed out. It’s not as though the American media did all that much better, though, at least before the invasion.

So what happened when this went out to air in Russia? According to The Blaze and a pop-up in the YouTube video, it got censored, although this hasn’t been independently confirmed yet. (If it did, it would have to have been censored on rebroadcast — otherwise the video wouldn’t exist.) Assuming that’s accurate, it appears Putin is indeed getting his money’s worth out of RT these days.

Update (Allahpundit): RT’s decided to ship Martin off to Crimea to help fill the “gaps” in her knowledge about whether military action is warranted. I wonder what she’ll conclude when she gets back.

A link would be nice. I am not aware that Russia was ever invited to join NATO. In fact, lack of Russian membership while actively pursuing Russian neighbors like Georgia and Ukraine provides a good reason for Russian mistrust.

There was once discussion of inviting Ukraine into NATO, but since that country is about to fragment into pieces, thanks to the US funded revolution in Kiev, the one we watched 'Live' on RT Television, which displaced the duly and legally elected government, well ... doubt if that offer is discussed seriously, soon.

But Russia, it was NEVER invited to join NATO.

---

We just guaranteed Ukraine we would have their backs in exchange for them giving up their Nukes.

Marsupials are an infraclass of mammals living primarily in Australasia and the New World. A distinctive characteristic, common to most species, is that the young are carried in a pouch. Well-known marsupials include kangaroos, wallabies, the koala, possums, opossums, wombats and the Tasmanian devil. Less well-known species of marsupials include the numbat, bandicoots, bettongs, the bilby, quolls and the quokka.

Marsupials represent the clade originating with the last common ancestor of extant metatherians. Like other mammals in the Metatheria, they are characterized by giving birth to relatively undeveloped young, often residing in a pouch with the mother for a certain time after birth. Close to 70% of the 334 extant species occur in Australia, New Guinea, and nearby islands, with the remaining 100 found in the Americas, primarily in South America, but with 13 in Central America, and one in North America north of Mexico.

If I can convince Quirk of the validity of my thesis, he will soon be touching off the Geiger Counters at every pawn shop in West Detroit, you can Geiger count on it.

Quirk routinely visits the pawn shops of Detroit to offer cheap on items and sometimes sell his own 'wares', normally gotten in trade for IOU's people owe him that are listed as uncollectible accounts on his IRS Forms. Does good at it, too.

Two Republican leaders in Congress — Senator John Cornyn and Representative Pete Sessions — and a number of other Republicans in the House overcame opponents backed by Tea Party activists. ...

On Tuesday, Mr. Dewhurst faced three prominent conservatives in his re-election bid and the possibility of a runoff on May 27.

Mr. Dewhurst had been criticized for pandering to the far right, by calling for President Obama’s impeachment and suggesting his support of the repeal of the 17th Amendment — a favorite cause of the Tea Party — which established the election of United States senators by popular vote rather than by state legislatures....Tuesday’s primary served as a kind of referendum on some of the leading figures in state politics, including Mr. Cornyn and former President George W. Bush.

Mr. Cornyn faced seven challengers, a sign of the frustration among some Tea Party activists and conservative groups with him for failing to back Mr. Cruz in his efforts to shut down the government over Mr. Obama’s health care law and to block a vote to raise the federal debt ceiling. Mr. Cruz refused to endorse Mr. Cornyn in the primary, but Mr. Cornyn’s main challenger, Representative Steve Stockman, made few public appearances on the campaign trail and failed to build widespread momentum. Mr. Cornyn beat him easily.

George P. Bush — the nephew of the former president, who served as governor here from 1995 to 2000 — campaigned for land commissioner, a relatively low-profile position that some Republicans, including Mr. Dewhurst, have used as a steppingstone for higher office. Mr. Bush’s easy victory on Tuesday illustrated the lasting influence of the family political brand and provided Hispanic conservatives with their most high-profile spokesman in the state.

Mr. Bush, whose mother is Mexican-American, is the co-founder of Hispanic Republicans of Texas, a political action committee. Political analysts say he could play a major role in helping Republicans woo Hispanics in Texas, a population that has traditionally voted Democratic and that has become crucial as Republicans try to maintain their dominance in Texas and Democrats try to break Republican control.

“He comes from the most prominent political family in the history of our country, and he’s Hispanic,” Aaron Pena, a Republican and a former state lawmaker from the Rio Grande Valley, said of the younger Mr. Bush. “George can be a rallying figure that can bring us all together.”

For Democrats, the primary was not nearly as competitive, although several races were noteworthy. The musician and humorist Kinky Friedman, who ran for governor in 2006, sought the Democratic nomination for agriculture commissioner. Appearing on the ballot as Richard “Kinky” Friedman, he advocated the legalization of marijuana.

WASHINGTON - District of Columbia lawmakers voted on Tuesday to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana, in what advocates of more lenient marijuana laws hope is another step toward legalizing the drug outright.

Slouching in a fancy chair in front of a dozen reporters, Putin squirmed and rambled. And rambled and rambled. He was a rainbow of emotion: Serious! angry! bemused! flustered! confused! So confused. Victor Yanukovich is still the acting president of Ukraine, but he can't talk to Ukraine because Ukraine has no president. Ukraine needs elections, but you can't have elections because there is already a president. And no elections will be valid given that there is terrorism in the streets of Ukraine. And how are you going to let just anyone run for president? What if some nationalist punk just pops out like a jack-in-the-box? An anti-Semite? Look at how peaceful the Crimea is, probably thanks to those guys with guns holding it down. Who are they, by the way? Speaking of instability, did you know that the mayor of Dniepropetrovsk is a thief? He cheated "our oligarch, [Chelsea owner Roman] Abramovich" of millions. Just pocketed them! Yanukovich has no political future, I've told him that. He didn't fulfill his obligations as leader of the country. I've told him that. Mr. Putin, what mistakes did Yanukovich make as president? You know, I can't answer that. Not because I don't know the answer, but because it just wouldn't be right of me to say. Did you know they burned someone alive in Kiev? Just like that? Is that what you call a manifestation of democracy? Mr. Putin, what about the snipers in Kiev who were firing on civilians? Who gave them orders to shoot? Those were provocateurs. Didn't you read the reports? They were open source reports. So I don't know what happened there. It's unclear. But did you see the bullets piercing the shields of the Berkut [special police]. That was obvious. As for who gave the order to shoot, I don't know. Yanukovich didn't give that order. He told me. I only know what Yanukovich told me. And I told him, don't do it. You'll bring chaos to your city. And he did it, and they toppled him. Look at that bacchanalia. The American political technologists they did their work well. And this isn't the first time they've done this in Ukraine, no. Sometimes, I get the feeling that these people...these people in America. They are sitting there, in their laboratory, and doing experiments, like on rats. You're not listening to me. I've already said, that yesterday, I met with three colleagues. Colleagues, you're not listening. It's not that Yanukovich said he's not going to sign the agreement with Europe. What he said was that, based on the content of the agreement, having examined it, he did not like it. We have problems. We have a lot of problems in Russia. But they're not as bad as in Ukraine. The Secretary of State. Well. The Secretary of State is not the ultimate authority, is he?

Magnificent Ronald and the Founding Fathers of al Qaeda

“These gentlemen are the moral equivalents of America’s founding fathers.” — Ronald Reagan while introducing the Mujahideen leaders to media on the White house lawns (1985). During Reagan’s 8 years in power, the CIA secretly sent billions of dollars of military aid to the mujahedeen in Afghanistan in a US-supported jihad against the Soviet Union. We repeated the insanity with ISIS against Syria.